The Recipe For Life…

We're cookin' in the primordial kitchen!
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If the human body could be distilled down into one molecule, what would our chemical formula be? And WHY is it that way? Is that one scene from Full Metal Alchemist even a little bit true?

There’s a whole lot of elements on the periodic table, but life depends on relatively few of them in order to build all the things that keep us alive. This week, we’ll look at why the chemistry of life is the way it is…

Special thanks to my miniature co-star Jimmy and his mom Kelly Malek!

Full Metal Alchemist ingredients for human body: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2Oiy3Z2m0c

All the elements in the human body: http://web2.airmail.net/uthman/elements_of_body.html

Could non-carbon-based life forms exist? http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/2v5vij/can_noncarbon_based_lifeforms_exist/

The chemistry of life: http://www.livescience.com/3505-chemistry-life-human-body.html

The elemental difference between life and the ocean: http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~charley/papers/ChopraLineweaver8assc%20proceedings.pdf

We’re born wet, and then we dry out: http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2013/11/25/247212488/born-wet-human-babies-are-75-percent-water-then-comes-drying
http://water.usgs.gov/edu/propertyyou.html

Market price of elements: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prices_of_elements_and_their_compounds


Have an idea for an episode or an amazing science question you want answered? Leave a comment below!
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It’s Okay To Be Smart is written and hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D.
Follow me on Twitter: @jtotheizzoe
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Produced by PBS Digital Studios: http://www.youtube.com/user/pbsdigitalstudios

Joe Hanson - Creator/Host/Writer
Joe Nicolosi - Director
Amanda Fox - Producer, Spotzen Inc.
Kate Eads - Associate Producer
Andrew Matthews - Editing/Motion Graphics/Animation
Katie Graham - Director of Photography
John Knudsen - Gaffer
Dalton Allen - Post-Production Intern

Theme music:
“Ouroboros” by Kevin MacLeod

Other music via APM
Stock images from Shutterstock, stock footage from Videoblocks

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Last week’s video:
%$?# Allergies! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqrnShjM4II

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Where Does the Smell of Rain Come From? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGcE5x8s0B8